1. Field of The Invention
The present invention relates to a disk drive for recording to or reproducing from a disk, and particularly to a disk drive used as an external storage device for electronic apparatuses such as personal computers, word processors or the like.
2. Description of The Prior Art
Disk drives carry out recording to or reproducing from disk-shaped recording media such as magnetic disks, laser disks or the like. The disk drive is constructed so as to perform recording to or reproducing from a disk as follows: A disk, the recording medium, is inserted into the disk drive; the disk is rotated by a driving motor; heads are brought into contact with or made to approach the surface of the disk; and writing data into or reading data out of the disk is carried out with the head moving relative to the disk. The heads are mounted on a carriage which is moved by a driving motor, so that the heads are moved on the disk in the radial direction (seek operation). An example of a disk drive is shown in Japanese Patent Application Laying-open No. 161,680/1990 (U.S. Ser. No. 07/392,045).
The disk drive comprises a base that supports the component parts of the disk drive, an installation and removal means for installing or removing the disk, a disk rotation drive means for rotating the disk by the motor, a head seek means for moving heads on the disk in the radial direction to place the heads on a target track, and a head loading means for loading or unloading the head to or from the disk, and the like. In addition, a control circuit for controlling the entire disk drive is provided, along with a connector for a power supply. The control circuit is connected to a host computer system via an interface so that the control circuit receives data from and supplies data to the host computer system.
In general, the installation and removal means has a cassette guide that supports a disk cassette in which the disk is housed, and guides the disk cassette into the disk drive so as to install it on the disk rotation drive means. The cassette guide also guides the disk cassette out of the disk drive so as to remove it from the disk rotation drive means. The installation and removal means also includes a slide plate that has a cam portion which engages a part of the cassette guide to lower or raise it, and is movable in directions in which the disk cassette is installed or removed. A latch member that controls ejection of the disk cassette in response to the movement of the slide plate is also included in the installation and removal means- The disk drive has a shutter opening means for opening a shutter of the disk cassette by engaging the shutter when the disk cassette is installed in the disk drive. The shutter opening means has an arrangement in which the latch member functions as an engaging member which engages the shutter or an arrangement in which an engaging member is rotatably supported on the cassette guide and can engage the shutter.
The components of the disk drive described above are housed in the base, which is shaped like a box having an opening which is closed by a cover for dustproofing and magnetic shielding.
When such disk drives are used as external storage devices for electronic apparatuses such as personal computers or word processors, they are sometimes constructed as independent apparatuses. In general, however, they are incorporated into the main bodies of the electronic apparatuses. As the electronic apparatuses become smaller and more portable, reducing the size and weight of the disk drives and increasing their portability is increasingly desirable.
In the conventional disk drive, the cam portion of the slide plate is provided at an upright portion, which overlaps with an outer surface of a side wall of the cassette guide. As a result, the base for housing the components of the disk drive needs extra space for the overlapping of the upright portion with the outer surface of the side wall of the cassette guide. This presents the problem that the width of the disk drive becomes relatively large. Additionally, in the conventional disk drive, the cam mechanism for raising or lowering the cassette guide is disposed in substantially the same horizontal plane in which the disk cassette is placed. This also makes it hard to reduce the size of the disk drive.